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“Your attention.”
“She’s always had my attention,” he said.
“On your terms. The only outlet she had was school.”
“We live in the country.”
“But your daughter is growing up, she needs to socialize. And this class has helped her.”
Had he been that selfish? “Don’t forget I let her have a sleepover. But I’ll always want to protect her no matter how old she gets.”
“Of course, and she’ll always need that from you, along with your love.”
“She’s always had that, from the day she was born.” Evan felt the familiar sadness. “I never want her to ever doubt that.” He walked away then turned back to Jenny. “There were days when that little girl was the only reason I got out of bed. She kept me going.”
Jenny nodded, trying not to reach out and offer comfort to this man. She was already too involved. “And you helped your daughter get through losing her mother. She wants to help you, too. She knows how sad you’ve been.”
His blue eyes met hers. “You seem to know a lot about her.”
Jenny shrugged. “I was a stranger when she first talked to me. That made it easier for her.”
“You are easy to talk to. Thank you for spending time with Gracie, especially for last weekend’s sleepover.”
That was her, the person everyone wanted to share things with, to be friends with. Last weekend, when Evan had nearly kissed her again, she’d known it was a bad idea. She’d already gotten a taste of his loving family, something she’d always longed for, giving her ideas of having a piece of it.
“That might have created more problems.” She held his gaze as it did crazy things to her stomach, but she continued. “It changes things now, Rafferty, we might never be able to go back. You aren’t ready.”
“For what? To kiss you again? Hell, yes, I’m ready.” He was more than ready for her. He moved closer, stopping directly in front of her. He caught her scent. It was intoxicating. Feelings for her whirled in his head. “If you’re honest, Jenny, you’d admit you want it too.”
“That doesn’t make it the right thing to do.”
“No, it doesn’t.” He leaned toward her. “All my energy needs to go into keeping the ranch afloat and being a father to my daughter.” He released a breath. “But you’re the one I’ve been thinking about in the middle of the night. You’re the one I want to hold in my arms, want to kiss—”
She looked up at the ceiling. “Oh, Rafferty, why are you doing this to me? We’re headed in different directions. Starting anything would be foolish.”
Hell, he didn’t want to get involved, but it had already happened. “Yeah, you’re right about that. It would be the craziest thing ever.”
“For once we agree.” Her voice was breathy. “We’ve only shared a kiss. No harm done.”
Damn. There’d been plenty of damage. To his sleep, to his peace of mind. Lately, to his sanity.
There was a knock on the door at the bottom of the stairs and Millie called up to her. “Jenny, there’s a phone call for you.”
“Can you take a name and a message?”
“He says it’s important, a Todd Newsome.”
Evan watched the blood drain from Jenny’s face. “I’ve got to go.”
He stopped her. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she said, pulling away, then she went down the steps.
He followed, but she wasn’t going to tell him anything. So, she had a past.
She looked back at him. “It would be better if you concentrate on your daughter, Evan. I’ll be leaving in a few months. I’ll be going back to my job. This has to be the end of it.”
Before he could say anything, she took off down the stairs. By the time he reached her, she’d taken the cordless phone from Millie and gone to a quiet corner. Her rejection should drive him away, but he wasn’t ready to give up; something wouldn’t let him let go of her.
Jenny had prayed she’d never hear from Todd ever again. Her stepbrother had caused her enough trouble to last a lifetime. But over the years he kept showing up like a bad penny.
She punched in the hold button. “What do you want, Todd?”
“Is that any way to greet your big brother, sis?”
“You’re not my brother. And I thought you were in jail.”
“I got out early for good behavior.”
“Fine. Have a good life and stop bothering me.”
“Whoa, sis. It wouldn’t be a good idea to hang up on me. What would Mom say?”
Jenny stiffened. Her mother had been Todd’s only supporter after his last drug offence.
“Go call her and ask.” She turned around and saw that Evan was still there. “Look, Todd, I need to go back to work.”
“I’d like to do the same, but I don’t have a job. Maybe you can set me up in a job with your fancy friends?”
How did he know? Her mother. She’d probably mentioned her job with the Casalis in letters. “I wouldn’t ask any of my friends to hire you. You’re unreliable. Shouldn’t your parole officer help you find something?”
“I don’t particularly want to be a dishwasher or a janitor.”
“Why not? It’s honest work.”
“I think you can do better for me.”
“No. I told you years ago, I want you to leave me alone.” She felt the familiar panic as she recalled high school and Todd and his creepy friends. That had been the main reason she’d told the police on him. It had gotten him his stay in juvenile hall.
“That’s too bad, sis,” he told her in a voice that made her shiver. “You owe me, and you’re my best bet these days. What’s the big deal about helping out a family member?”
“You’re not my family. So stay away from me, Todd. I won’t help you.” Her hands were shaking as she ended the call. No, she wouldn’t let him get to her again. The three Newsome brothers had been trouble since day one, but Todd was the worst. She hadn’t been surprised that he’d gone to prison.
She turned around and saw Evan watching her. She put on a smile as he walked to her.
“Is everything okay?”
“Of course,” she said just as the bell over the shop door chimed and Gracie and Cherry returned, followed by Allison.
“Daddy.” Gracie ran to her father. “We need to go home because I have to find some material for the class.”
“You have a week before the next class.”
The girls didn’t like to wait for anything.
“But all the other girls have their moms to help them pick out their material. And grandpa’s fixing spaghetti and he said we need to bring Jenny and some bread home. Please, Daddy.”
He turned to Jenny. “Looks as if we’re outnumbered. Would you like to come to dinner at the Rafferty house?”
It wasn’t a good idea. She looked at Gracie and began to lose her resolve. The little girl would be disappointed if she didn’t go. “Sure, I’d love to.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
AN hour later Jenny was seated beside Evan in his truck and on the way to the Rafferty home. How had she got herself into this? Okay, she was a coward. She wanted to be away from any more calls from Todd. No more abuse from her evil stepbrother.
Those days were over.
Thanks to her mother she now had to deal with him again. No doubt Marsha thought Todd had turned over a new leaf, but Jenny doubted he could do anything good, ever.
Time served or not, Todd Newsome was a convicted felon. The last thing she wanted him to do was cause any trouble for her or her friends. She only hoped she’d convinced Todd that she didn’t want any more to do with him. Good luck with that. He hadn’t cared about her wishes, ever. She couldn’t have been happier when he was sent away.
“Jenny,” Gracie called.
She turned to the girl in the back seat. “What, sweetie?”
“All the other girls think I’m lucky because I get to take you to my house.”
She was touched. “Well, you need help with the project, too. And remember, you have to sew new blocks together.”
Gracie nodded. “Daddy, can I have one of your shirts? The one Mommy liked.”
Evan frowned. Meg had liked one of his shirts? She’d never said anything to him. “Sure. You’ll have to remind me which one that is.”
He stole a sideways glance at Jenny, seeing her curious look.
“It’s the one you wore when we all went to church on Easter that last time,” his daughter said. “I want to use something that Mommy liked.”
“Okay, we’ll find it then,” he said hearing the sadness in his child’s voice.
He glanced at Jenny. “Once an altar boy, but I’m not much on church these days.”
“Grandpa Sean is Catholic and Mommy and me are Lutherans,” the tiny voice came from the back. “What are you, Jenny?”
She smiled. “Oh, I’d say I’m a mixture of a little Catholic with some Presbyterian thrown in. All religions work if you pray.”
“At my church they say you have to repent if you do bad things. What does repent mean?”
Gracie was too young to hear those kinds of words. “It means to make up for what you did wrong,” Evan said. “If you were bad, you should say you’re sorry, and then take your punishment.”
“Oh. What if that person was really, really mean to me? Do I still have to say I’m sorry?”
Evan stepped in. “If you said something bad to that person, you should.”
“But Aaron Jacobs is mean to everybody. He made Sara Hartley cry.”
Evan didn’t like to hear of someone bullying his child. “Did you tell the teacher?”
He glanced in the rearview mirror and saw her nod.
“But he won’t stop being mean to us girls.”
“Then I need to have a talk with his parents.”
“You will?”
He drove under the ranch archway. “Of course, Gracie. You should have told me sooner.”
He pulled up in front of the house. He climbed out and opened the back door as his daughter unfastened her seat-belt and climbed down. Evan squatted down to her level. “Gracie, you can always come to me if you have trouble with anything. I’ll always be there for you.”
She glanced away.
“What’s wrong?”
“Mommy always said not to bother you if you’re busy ‘cause you have a lot on your mind.”
He worked to keep his anger under control. “Remember this, Gracie Anne Rafferty. I’m never too busy for you.”
A bright smile appeared on her face. “Okay, Daddy.”
“Now, go take the bread to Grandpa.”
His daughter took the long sticks of sourdough and headed up the steps. Sadness washed over him. Had he been that distant from his own family? Or had Meg deliberately kept him from having a relationship with his daughter? He knew they hadn’t had the best marriage, but why had she prevented him from being Gracie’s father? If she had, he’d let her.
“Evan, are you okay?” Jenny asked.
“No. My own daughter is afraid to come to me.”
“A lot of children go to their mother first.”
“Did you?” Suddenly, he remembered Jenny saying her mother was too busy for her. “Or did you have to fight your own battles? How did you handle bullies?”
She shrugged. “I guess I did a lot of my own fighting.”
“What about your dad?”
She glanced away. “He was never in my life.”
His gut tightened as she tried to seem nonchalant, but he knew it mattered to her. “Well, I’m not going to let Aaron the bully get any more out of control. He has no right picking on little girls.” His fists clenched. “I plan to have a talk with this kid.”
